- Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed his country’s involvement in the mediation talks between the U.S. and Iran, according to a report by Al Jazeera.
- Dar also announced that Egypt, Turkiye, and other unspecified countries are also involved in the attempts to broker peace between the U.S. and Iran.
- Iran criticized the 15-point U.S. ceasefire proposal on Wednesday, terming it “extremely maximalist and unreasonable.”
President Donald Trump on Thursday called out Iranian negotiators as being strange, noting that while Iran is “begging” for a deal, the country’s representatives are publicly taking a different stance.
“They are ‘begging’ us to make a deal, which they should be doing since they have been militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback, and yet they publicly state that they are only ‘looking at our proposal,’” he said of Iranian negotiators in a post on Truth Social.
President Trump’s warning comes as the Iran war enters its 27th day on Thursday.
“They better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty!” he added.
Meanwhile, Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures declined more than 400 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite futures were both down nearly 1%.
At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was down 0.8%; the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) fell 1%; and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) declined 0.77%. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits regarding the S&P 500 ETF was in the ‘extremely bearish’ territory.
Pakistan Says Egypt, Turkiye Involved In Mediation
Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed his country’s involvement in the mediation talks between the U.S. and Iran, according to a report by Al Jazeera.
Dar also announced that Egypt, Turkiye, and other unspecified countries are also involved in the attempts to broker peace between the U.S. and Iran.
Iran Criticizes US Proposal
Iran criticized the 15-point U.S. ceasefire proposal on Wednesday, terming it “extremely maximalist and unreasonable.” The country also put forth its own conditions for ending the war in response to the U.S. proposal.
The ceasefire plan proposed by the U.S. includes sanctions relief, a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program, a provision allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to conduct monitoring, and the resumption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s counter-conditions to the U.S. proposal include a complete halt to aggression and assassinations, establishing a mechanism to make sure the war on Iran does not resume, reparations for the war damage, the recognition of Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, and an end to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, as well as attacks on Iranian proxies across the region.
An Iranian military official also stated the country will open other fronts in the war if the enemy makes a move on Iran’s islands.
Crude Oil Starts Boiling Again
Crude oil prices started rising again on Thursday as tensions intensified in the Middle East.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures maturing in May gained nearly 5% to hover around $95 per barrel. Brent crude futures expiring in June also rose 5% to $102 per barrel.
The United States Oil Fund ETF (USO) rose 4%, while the ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil ETF (UCO) was up about 5% at the time of writing.
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